4 ms·

I'm completely baffled by this comment. I went back and re-read the article to try to pick up on the sentiment you're criticizing, and I just can't find it. Th

I'm completely baffled by this comment. I went back and re-read the article to try to pick up on the sentiment you're criticizing, and I just can't find it. The derision w/r/t the woman's educational choice is so trite I'm wondering if it might be satire. Not everyone's goal in life to maximize money earned. Some people value a certain passion over riches, and many other believe that those with a lesser-paid passion deserve to live decent lives, not burdened with excessive debt. As for the 'tech' comment... it resonated well enough with me, and seemed genuine. I didn't detect any 'high horse' as you call it. It seems like you went into this article looking for something to criticize instead of attempting to empathize with the situation the individuals face.

monkeywork 10y ago
>Not everyone's goal in life to maximize money earned. Some people value a certain passion over riches, and many other believe that those with a lesser-paid passion deserve to live decent lives, not burdened with excessive debt. If you can't make a living that doesn't burden you with excessive debt then your passion isn't a career it's a hobby and you should treat it as such.
- intopieces 10y ago
  http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/find-the-thing-youre-most-passionate-about-then-do-31742 http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/find-the-thing-youre-most-p...
ianai 10y ago
Am I the only one that found it weird that she's a programmer but studied music? Shouldn't the field have kept her out?
- spc476 10y ago
  One of my office mates started life out as a jazz musician. He transitioned into programming (embedded work and device drivers mainly) to pay the bills.
- lawpoop 10y ago
  Uh, probably? Why would the field have kept her out? I know several self-taught/non-CS majored programmers.
- et-al 10y ago
  Weak, late-night logic, but take a leap: you've heard that mathematically-inclined folks have become decent musicians. And some mathematically-inclined folks are also decent programmers. So by the transitive property..
- ergothus 10y ago
  I'm curious what age range you are - When I got into the coding field in the early 90s, almost EVERYONE came from non-tech education fields. I've had a sysadmin with a masters in chinese philosophy. I've had coworkers with degrees in fashion, linguistics, and of course, a few people that hadn't finished college at all. I myself did a "make your own major" that combined Comp Sci & Philosophy. My degree has never mattered (though some places did care that I _had_ a degree of some sort). And I can think of only two classes I had that ever directly contributed to coding. For the curious, one was an algorithms class, and the other was "Group Software Design", where we had lectures about the Waterfall method "which all serious companies use" (it was the early 90s) and had a team that was supposed to code a final project according to the methods taught: so, weeks of requirements and documentation, then a quick spurt of work to actually code it. What really happened was weeks of debating what language/libraries to use, then with 2 weeks left one of us actually stubbed out the code, so his language choice won, then we pulled all-nighters for those 2 weeks to code it. The guy that skipped the coding sessions was told to document it after the fact. It was a highly educational experience that was directly applicable to real coding work :) I've noticed that coders more often have CS or SE degrees now at work, and that the education is given more attention, though I don't particularly value it - a degree simply assures me that you've done X hours of coding, not that you learned anything nor that what you learned is applicable. Show me anything you've coded on your own time and it's immediately more telling. (and I've interviewed too many college grads that have never coded anything that wasn't for a school assignment)
  - ianai 10y ago
    I've always known it was common for programmers to come from many backgrounds. I've even been trying to re-break into it. I have a BS in math and a lot of training toward a master's in economics. This comment was the labor economics in me talking and also frustration because I'm not there. I could delete the comment or leave it as food for thought.

monkeywork 10y ago

>Not everyone's goal in life to maximize money earned. Some people value a certain passion over riches, and many other believe that those with a lesser-paid passion deserve to live decent lives, not burdened with excessive debt. If you can't make a living that doesn't burden you with excessive debt then your passion isn't a career it's a hobby and you should treat it as such.

intopieces 10y ago
http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/find-the-thing-youre-most-passionate-about-then-do-31742 http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/find-the-thing-youre-most-p...

ianai 10y ago

Am I the only one that found it weird that she's a programmer but studied music? Shouldn't the field have kept her out?

spc476 10y ago
One of my office mates started life out as a jazz musician. He transitioned into programming (embedded work and device drivers mainly) to pay the bills.
lawpoop 10y ago
Uh, probably? Why would the field have kept her out? I know several self-taught/non-CS majored programmers.
et-al 10y ago
Weak, late-night logic, but take a leap: you've heard that mathematically-inclined folks have become decent musicians. And some mathematically-inclined folks are also decent programmers. So by the transitive property..
ergothus 10y ago
I'm curious what age range you are - When I got into the coding field in the early 90s, almost EVERYONE came from non-tech education fields. I've had a sysadmin with a masters in chinese philosophy. I've had coworkers with degrees in fashion, linguistics, and of course, a few people that hadn't finished college at all. I myself did a "make your own major" that combined Comp Sci & Philosophy. My degree has never mattered (though some places did care that I _had_ a degree of some sort). And I can think of only two classes I had that ever directly contributed to coding. For the curious, one was an algorithms class, and the other was "Group Software Design", where we had lectures about the Waterfall method "which all serious companies use" (it was the early 90s) and had a team that was supposed to code a final project according to the methods taught: so, weeks of requirements and documentation, then a quick spurt of work to actually code it. What really happened was weeks of debating what language/libraries to use, then with 2 weeks left one of us actually stubbed out the code, so his language choice won, then we pulled all-nighters for those 2 weeks to code it. The guy that skipped the coding sessions was told to document it after the fact. It was a highly educational experience that was directly applicable to real coding work :) I've noticed that coders more often have CS or SE degrees now at work, and that the education is given more attention, though I don't particularly value it - a degree simply assures me that you've done X hours of coding, not that you learned anything nor that what you learned is applicable. Show me anything you've coded on your own time and it's immediately more telling. (and I've interviewed too many college grads that have never coded anything that wasn't for a school assignment)
- ianai 10y ago
  I've always known it was common for programmers to come from many backgrounds. I've even been trying to re-break into it. I have a BS in math and a lot of training toward a master's in economics. This comment was the labor economics in me talking and also frustration because I'm not there. I could delete the comment or leave it as food for thought.